German Violin Bow: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bow was made by an unknown maker in Germany, around 1880-1899. It is a violin bow, with a round brazilwood stick, an unlined plain ebony frog with a metal ferrule, and a bone button. This commercial bow was accessioned with a 19th century German violin (Cat. #094873)

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1880 - 1899
• Object Name: bow
• Physical Description: brazilwood (stick material)
• Physical Description: ebony (frog material)
• Physical Description: metal (ferrule material)
• Physical Description: bone (button material)
• Physical Description: horsehair (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 28 1/2 in x 1 1/4 in x 5/8 in; 72.39 cm x 3.175 cm x 1.5875 cm
• place made: Germany
• ID Number: MI.094873a
• catalog number: 94873a
• accession number: 22998
• Credit Line: Gift of Rev. F. Gardiner, Jr.
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.